Exquisite Water Features: Yard Fountains and Waterfalls

Water features can add an exquisite touch to an incomplete landscape design. If you are looking for that little pick-me-up or way to make your yard look especially lovely, water features are a charming way to do so. The relaxing sound of trickling water adds a unique ambiance to complement the natural cadence of nature. Water features also contribute continuous movement that livens the atmosphere of a would-be completely still landscape.

Styles, styles, styles…

Water features come in a variety of shapes and styles. Whether your garden or lawn is in the style of vintage chic, Grecian patio, or classic modern, rockery designs are able to enhance the landscape of any yard scene.

These water features come in various shapes and sizes. Water feature orientations include fountains, waterfalls, rock beds, and ponds. These features can be mixed and matched to meet your styling and layout preferences.

1. Fountains

Fountains are unique water features because they do not merely cascade down a rock face. Instead, they create charming patterns within the water flow or spray. Fountains are generally distinguished by two classifications – spouting and cascading. Either of these fountain types can feature a pond, or be designed as pondless.

Spouting Fountains – Spouting fountains shoot a stream or various streams of water into the air that then come splashing down into a pond or a rock bed. These types of fountains are especially applicable to Grecian yard art styles, and spouting statues are often seen in these types of landscape designs.

Cascading Fountains – Cascading fountains are far more subtle in their effect than the drama of a spouting fountain. They tend to make more of a trickling noise than a splashing sound, because they are constructed of multiple levels. The water is pumped through the fountain and out the top, allowing the water to cascade downwards, flowing over the various levels.

Pondless Fountains – Pondless fountains tend to take up less space than other water features. Usually, their base is usually made from non-traditional items like urns, columns, or boulders. As opposed to drawing water from a pond visible above the surface of the
ground, these fountains draw water from a reservoir below ground. The fountain is placed on a bed of gravel or rock that allows the water to drain to the reservoir beneath it.

2. Waterfalls

A waterfall is an attractive addition to your yard, regardless of the space that you have available. Among landscapers, there is often an assumption that, if you do not have a large amount of yard space, a waterfall is not a viable option. However, that is simply not the case.

Small waterfalls act like one-sided cascading fountains, and can be a quaint and delightful way to accent your landscape design.

In many cases, small waterfalls are combined with rockery formations. The waterfall featured in the image on the right was designed and constructed by B&D Rockeries, and is a testimony to the additive beauty of rockery and waterfall combinations. A pond with beautiful rockery accents, accompanied by the trickle of a cascading waterfall, and accented by colorful rocks would be a wonderful decoration and provide an atmosphere of peaceful tranquility.

If you do have the space, though, a large waterfall lends a lot of character to a large, empty area of your yard. Rather than letting the area go untended, create a lovely waterfall into a rock-walled pond surrounded by a flagstone patio. Add a couple of lawn chairs and grab your favorite book, and you are set for a lovely afternoon, relaxing in the sun by your gorgeous waterfall.

If you are interested in rockery formations that incorporate water feature designs, B&D Rockeries would be delighted to have a conversation with you. Our years of experience and history of satisfied clients have proven us to be a qualified landscaping company. For more information about our services and how we can help you with your landscaping designs, contact us any time.